


Sacrifice

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: When Minutes Make the Difference [1]
Category: Meitantei Conan | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Gen, Mutilation, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-07 11:53:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Conan is just a few minutes too late and Heiji pays the price. Rewrite of the Heiji Hattori's Desperate Situation! case (manga files 390-392; anime episodes 323-324).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, and will probably be expanded on later because reasons.

He'd always thought that worst part about being shrunk was the fact that his deductions were never taken seriously. Although hiding them in childlike questioning had become a kind of game, it was still infuriating more often than not. For all that he's amused by the praise and the looks of surprise every time someone new learns about how "clever" he is, the lowered expectations are tiresome to say the least. That, he thought, would always be the worst part of this body.

That is, until the terror rushes through him at the sound of Hattori's pained scream.

The worst part? The worst part is the powerlessness.

The way this body is still learning how to overcome the flight instinct when the adrenaline rushes through him and fight instead. His lack of speed and strength and size to make him even worthwhile in a fight. The way everything is too big or too strong or to fast for him to manage even the slightest bit of a fight against them. That. _That_ is the worst part about this body.

So, he hesitates. He hesitates until the second scream comes, and then he forces himself into action.

He activates the soccer ball all but automatically, dropping it and slamming it through the door. The second it's down, he dashes through, not bothering to remove his shoes at the doorway and instead sprinting up the stairs from the direction Hattori's voice is coming from.

What he finds there leaves his breath frozen in his chest.

Hattori and Kazuha, tied--possibly handcuffed--to each other in the middle of the room, surrounded by the lawyer and what appear to be two of her goons. Kazuha is wide-eyed and screaming and Hattori is. Hattori is.

Hattori is lying on the floor _blood all over his face_. He can't tell from here, but there's blood on his face and his shoulder and part of his chest and-- oh god, oh god, that's his _ear_ lying on the floor next to him; oh _god_.

In the time he'd needed to get to and take in the scene, Hattori's screams have petered out into weak whimpers, and Kazuka's screaming is redirected onto Ito, screaming obscenities at her. With her attention on Kazuha and the two goons' eyes on Hattori, Shin'ichi knows he only has a few seconds.

He makes them count.

It's a tranq to the neck for the goon with the gun, and in the time it takes the other two to realize something's wrong, he's put at least one bullet through them each--one leg for the lawyer and two for the goon with the knife, just for good measure--and made it halfway to Kazuha and Hattori's side. By the time he's there, the other two are shouting at each other, finally realizing that something's wrong, but then he's picking the lock on the cuffs while Hattori smirks up at him through the blood.

"Ah knew... Ah knew ya'd come through."

"Shut up shut up don't talk don't do anything don't say anything just shut up Hattori." The words are automatic, something to fill the silence he knows will follow once Hattori blacks out.

"S'okay Kudou. Ah'll be fine."

Shin'ichi's hands are shaking and it takes him three tries to get the lock picked. "Shut up shut up shut up; didn't I tell you to shut up? You're bleeding from the side of your face, goddammit, and god only knows if they're going to be able to--"

"They won'."

"Shut up, Hattori."

The second his hands are free, Hattori reaches one up to slide through Shin'ichi's hair. "Ah knew you'd come through." Then he's unconscious and Shin'ichi has to purposefully restrain himself from what he knows would be a futile attempt to wake him up.

He passes Kazuha his cell phone as soon as he has her free as well. "Call 110. We need an ambulance and the cops."

She looks taken aback at the order, but as soon as he strips his jacket off to start wiping the blood from Hattori's face, she shakes it off and dials.

Shin'ichi gets Hattori's face cleaned of most of the blood so that he can breathe properly before dragging them both toward the wall so he can set Hattori against it and get his head elevated above his heart. Then he strips off his shirt and folds it, pressing the entire thing against the side of Hattori's head, all while trying very, very hard not to look at where the severed ear lies, not half a meter away from them.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into Hattori's blood-drenched sleeve, feeling the beginnings of shock take him over. "I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have walked away. Not with the suspicions I had. Not with our luck. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Hattori doesn't reply. Of course he doesn't. And yet, the silence is scarier than Shin'ichi had expected it to be. So he just presses the makeshift compress harder against Hattori's head, and waits.


End file.
